2009 Altima Coupe A/C stopped working

[joecap]

NEED HELP!!! all the guys claiming to be mechanics are just parts changers.

I bought this Altima in June the A/C would freeze you out of the car. a month later it would work but the recycle would keep kicking off after 40-60 min of driving. Eventually it got to a point where it would blow cool air (with recycle off) but the clutch would cycle on and off so violently it would nearly stall the engine. A mechanic checked it out added some freon and sent me on my way. it worked great for the ride home, the next day leaving work it lasted 8 min. Since then I started playing around with it. I set the low side to 30 PSI when I drove it the AC would quit and start blowing warm air. I stopped the check the low side and it was over 40 at idle let out some freon and it started working agian. For about a week it would last for about an hour then it dropped down to 15-30 min. I went back to diagnose it but now the compressor will not engage. the clutch is not frozen. I want to try jumping the pressure switch but appears you have to pull the grille/bumper cover to access it.
Is ther an easier way to access the switch?
Any thoughts on what else may be wrong with it?

I want to gather as much info as possible before dumpng money on parts I do no need.

[stevewaclo]

Joe cap,

Condolences with the A/C issues.

From your description of the situation, it appears you are very knowledgable in things air conditioning, but have hot the wall on this issue.

Tell us where you live and someone may be able to provide a referral to an excellent pro in your neighborhood.

Sometimes you just gotta cut your loses and call in the big kids...

Best wishes.

[RicerX]

Welcome to NICO joecap!

I will see if I can't pull in someone more experienced with AC stuff. I'm afraid you've gotten about as far as I ever have gone with troubleshooting before I gave up and took it to get serviced.

Standby!

[Q451990]

joecap!

I'd check out the FSM (factory service manual) to see what all has to be "right" before the ECU will send the clutch the engage signal. On most Nissans the dual pressure switch, evaporator temp. switch, compressor overheat sensor, and signal from the controller all have to be ok before the clutch can come on. Typically it's easiest to pull the A/C relay and jump it out to try to engage the clutch, but I'm not totally sure on your particular year.

www.nicoclub.com/FSM/

Good luck!

Heath

[sx moneypit]

Is the car running at normal temperature? If it gets too hot the ECU will cut the power to the compressor.

You might want to also check the ambient temperature switch.

[WDRacing]

I believe you can jump the circuit at the AC clutch relay. Not sure where it is though, or what pins to jump. But there is usually a diagram on the relay itself showing what pins to jump to make the circuit complete.

[joecap]

Thanks for the input. I disasembled the front of my car so I could jump the pressure switch and found the plug going is not the top of the swith was busted and somone jammed the wires into the switch. I got a new plug from a junkyard which of course hase different color wires (if anyone has aan A/C wiring diagram i'd appreciate it). I wired up the new plug which has a red-black-white wires to my Red-White-Pink wires I tied pink to black and the compressor kicked on and off a couple of times then stayed off. I will continue working on this thing.